A popular type of swimming pool cleaning system currently finding widespread acceptance is one which utilizes pop-up cleaning heads located in the floor, steps, and sometimes the walls of the pool. These cleaning heads are intermittently supplied with pressurized water to activate them. When the heads are inactive, they retract into a sleeve, and are substantially flush with the adjoining surface of the pool. Whenever the cleaning heads are activated, they pop up or extend beyond the surface of the pool to direct a jet of water from a nozzle across the adjacent surface to dislodge debris from the pool surface and place it in suspension for subsequent removal by the pool filter. Generally, these pop-up cleaning heads undergo incremental rotation, about their central axis, for each cycle of operation; so that different adjacent areas of the pool surface are cleaned by the jet of water emanating from the water nozzle in each cycle of operation of the head.
Formerly, swimming pool surfaces were finished with white or beige colored plaster; and the pop-up pool cleaning heads, and their surrounding sleeves, were manufactured of either a white colored plastic or a beige colored plastic, which blended in fairly well with the surface of the pool. Recently, however, it has become highly popular to finish the interior surface of the pool with a material resembling sand or pebbles; and these finishes are produced in a wide variety of colors and textures. Typical of such finishes are those sold under the name PebbleTec(copyright), distributed by Pebble Tech, Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz. Other simulated sand surfaces also have been developed. With all of these surfaces, color and texture variations, from beige colored sand to exotic coral colors, extending into dark or nearly black colors, are produced. When standard water delivery systems including pop-up cleaning heads, made by a variety of manufacturers, are used with such sand-like or pebble finish pools, the standard white or beige colored heads frequently stand out as unattractive intrusions into the appearance of the pool surface, whether the heads are in use, or not in use in their retracted position.
In order to overcome the disadvantage of contrasting color appearance of cleaning heads and pool surfaces, pool cleaning system manufacturers can manufacture the cleaning heads and their associated adjacent sleeves and fittings out of a variety of different colored plastics. This, however, results in an extraordinary multiplication of the inventory which any pool dealer would need to carry, in order to anticipate all of the possible choices of pool finishes desired by its customers. The cost, to both the swimming pool cleaning system manufacturers and to distributors and retailers handling the products, would be prohibitive.
Efforts have been made, in conjunction with lawn sprinklers, to provide a top or a cover for a retractable sprinkler which is designed to simulate the appearance of the surrounding grass in order to make the lawn sprinkler less obtrusive. The U.S. Pat. No. to Sheets No. 4,429,832 discloses a sprinkler with a relatively large circular cap attached to the top of the sprinkler mechanism. This cap or lid is covered with a synthetic grass-like material; so that when the sprinkler retracts, the cap covering the sprinkler housing sleeve or pipe tends to hide the sprinkler location.
The U.S. Pat. No. to Sheets No. 3,709,435 is another sprinkler with a large circular lid on the top, covered with simulated grass, to hide the sprinkler when it is retracted. The lid on which the artificial grass is located is designed with beveled edges to rest against the edge or upper flange of the sprinkler housing to bear the weight of persons or vehicles passing over the top of the sprinkler.
The U.S. Pat. No. to Keyes No. 1,605,242 also is directed to a pop-up lawn sprinkler having a relatively large diameter cap extending up over the sprinkler mechanism itself. This cap is made of sufficient depth to carry a piece of sod and soil in it to keep the sod alive. When the sprinkler is retracted, the cap drops down into the top of the housing to conceal the sprinkler.
In all three of the lawn sprinkler patents mentioned above, it should be noted that the cap is a relatively large, permanent part of the overall structure of the sprinkler mechanism. The cap serves as a support surface for protecting the sprinkler mechanism when it is in its retracted position.
It is desirable to provide a decorative cover for attachment to the upper surface of the pop-up cleaning head of a water delivery system for a swimming pool to conceal the cleaning head when it is in its retracted position, and which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved decorative cover for attachment to the upper surface of a swimming pool cleaning head.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved removable decorative cover attached to the upper surface of a pop-up swimming pool cleaning head.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide an improved decorative cover attached to the upper surface of a cleaning head for a swimming pool, in which the cover bears indicia and coloring selected to match the appearance of the pool floor surrounding the cleaning head.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved removable decorative cover bearing indicia and coloring selected to match the appearance of the pool floor surrounding a pop-up cleaning head, which may attached to the upper surface of the cleaning head.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a decorative cover is designed to be removably attached to the upper surface of a pop-up cleaning head in a swimming pool cleaning system, where the decorative cover bears indicia and color selected to match the appearance of the pool floor surrounding the pop-up cleaning head.